This Navajo Hogan Home in Arizona Available to Rent

The Diné, or Navajo, are indigenous to the Southwestern United States, where they have lived for over a thousand years. Travelers seeking to explore Navajo traditions and culture can now stay in a hogan, a traditional dwelling, within the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, or Tse’Bii’Ndzisgaii. A Navajo hogan is usually dome-shaped or multi-sided and built entirely out of natural elements like logs, bark, and mud.

The MonetValley Eco Hogan sits within the tribal park north of Kayenta, Arizona, and is owned by Verna Yazzie, a Navajo woman who was born and raised in Monument Valley. Her hogan, completed in 2020, is built out of juniper wood, bark, and sand. It is an off-grid structure with no electricity or running water, offering guests an extra dose of dark night skies (the area is renowned for its stargazing) and the chance to connect with the natural world.

By opening her hogan to visitors, Yazzie hopes to introduce people to the Navajo lifestyle, which traditionally involves herding sheep, weaving rugs, growing crops, and silversmithing. The name of her hogan, MonetValley, is an ode to her grandmother, who also lived in Monument Valley.

“My grandmother, Bessie, who hardly knows any English words, but she knew how to say where she is from. ‘Mǒnet Bally’—she couldn’t pronounce the ‘V,'” Yazzie told Travel + Leisure.

Yazzie said she wants to “teach and share the Navajo language with young children with a future goal of offering a cultural immersion retreat to teach people how to live in harmony, be humble, and live a simple, sustainable life.”

MonetValley Eco Hogan currently has one standalone hogan available to rent, which accommodates up to four people. (Two more hogans are under construction on the property.) The one-room structure features special touches like Navajo rugs and a weaving loom. Guests are expected to bring their own food and drinking water, but a Navajo taco dinner—prepared with fry bread instead of tortillas—can be arranged through Yazzie.

The MonetValley Eco Hogan is located outside Kayenta, Arizona, in Monument Valley. The area is known for the giant sandstone formations that rise out of the Earth, towering up to 1,000 feet over the valley. These pinnacles are surrounded by miles of windblown sand and bordered by mesas and buttes.

The MonetValley Eco Hogan usually opens for the summer season in May, depending on the weather. All bookings are made directly through monetvalley.com. Nightly rates start at $125 per night per person.